Athens airport terminals/layover question

Most of the airlines are all in one terminal. There is a satellite terminal but that won't pertain to you.

The airport isn't large like other European cities so it will be easy to get from one gate to another.

Can you clarify if your flight from Santorini to Chicago is all one ticket from UAL or do you have a separate ticket for Santorini to Athens with Aegean?

If the latter then most people recommend getting back to Athens at least one day before departure in case of any type of delay like weather, strikes, etc.

I have been in and out of ATH, but did not connect through it, but the airport seemed to be efficient and easy to traverse.

Edit- deleted non-pertinent comments, based on OP's up date regarding ticket.

EDIT to Tommyk5, the ticket is one complete trip, there is no separate JTR - Ath ticket.

Thank you for the replies. To answer questions, the JTR-ATH-FRA-ORD leg is in one day, we do not want to spend another night in Athens. Fingers crossed there are no strikes or weather delays. Hopefully, if it looks like those will be an issue, we can make the call while we are on trip about how best to get home.

As far as the website routing, I will recheck the ticket, but no layover overnight...

For peace of mind and less stress I would get back to Athens at least one day before departure.

There are numerous scenarios that could cause you to miss the flight if you intend to do it all in one day.

One of the worse I've heard of is lost luggage. If your luggage is lost more than likely you'll never get it before you depart. Who knows when or if you'll ever get it.

However many people have done what you plan and have made it without problems.

If you are able to handle stress and all the "what ifs" that could happen then I hope you make it back home without any issues.

MArie, if for some reason you change your mind and believe it's a good idea to get back to mainland the night before your homebound flight, it does NOT mean you have to spend an extra night in Athens. In fact, you could have a wonderful "last beach night". How? Book a room at AVRA HOtel in RAfina... it's a 25-minute ride from Airport in FREE shuttle that runs 24/7. This v. moderate-price hotel overlooks a nice sandy beach and and is a short stroll to the town square with attractive tavernas for a relaxed last dinner of authentic home-style Greek cooking. You can get a mid-day flight, and have a good beach afternoon with swims from a sandy beach, which u didn't have in Santorini. Only requirement: at same time u book rooms, u need to specific what time to AND from airport u need the shuttle.

I have a 75 minute connection in Athens on one ticket on to Crete. It is a small airport and easy to manage. If I miss it, then I will take the next flight to Crete.

However, I am taking an hour flight to an island not an international flight which will have more consequences if you miss it. 95 minutes does not give you any time for anything to be delayed from Crete. But you already know that. The issue is that you will either have to wait until the next day (this happened to my daughter when her domestic flight to Atlanta for her flight to Spain was delayed) or take a more difficult routing. Of course, if it all works, it is amazingly efficient.

It all depends on your risk tolerance.

It’s possible to make a connection in 95 minutes but, as other people have said, it’s a risk.

Three years ago we flew into Athens from Thessaloniki and had a two hour gap before a flight to London. Both flights were with Aegean. The Thessaloniki - Athens leg was 35 minutes late. The plane had to taxi in, we needed a bus to the terminal and then waited for luggage. In the end we had to run through the airport with luggage. We made the London flight but it was close and I wouldn’t cut it so fine again. May be worth noting that pre Covid I used to fly in and out of Athens at least three times a year and so knew where I was going.

Janet’s suggestion of the Avra is a good one and, for what it’s worth, is what I would do in this situation. Tommy’s also right that if you decide to chance it you my be fine.

Whatever you decide I hope it works out and you have a great trip.

Alan

As always, thanks to the community for posting. Aegean has an 8:35 a.m. flight to Athens, gives us three hours of breathing room to catch the flight in Athens to FRA. I will try to book that flight.

Does Aegean allow carryon bags or is all luggage checked?

Again, since we booked the flight on UAL, and it is on one single ticket (JTR-ATH-FRA-ORD), I assume we check the bag in Santorini and we do not pick it up in Athens, it would be checked through to ORD. BUT - Anyone fly Aegean out of Santorini who can confirm the baggage situation?

Maybe I need to post a separate thread on the forum on this?

Aegean's carry on allowance is very minimal. We had carry on to Athens on United but still had to check on Aegean.

While it certainly would be more handy to have it checked through, a longer layover should allow you to check if you need to.

And I think you are wise to leave earlier to give yourself more of a cushion.

https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-information/baggage/cabin-baggage/

Depends on your fare class how much you can bring on board

Checked bag info --https://en.aegeanair.com/travel-information/baggage/baggage-allowance/

Thanks to all who helped - UAL rebooked on the earlier flight, no charge! We have a four-ish hour layover in ATH now. Will let me relax and enjoy the trip!

Marie

A good call I think.

It’s also worth checking Aegean’s weight restrictions for carry on luggage. We got caught on this as although our carry on bags were within the standard size they were overweight. We were charged a supplement. (Just to reassure, despite this and the lateness I like Aegean as an airline.)

There’s a reasonable restaurant on the first floor of the ground side departure lounge. Nothing special but a restful place to wait and not completely over the top on prices for an airport. There’s also a very small - one room basically - museum of finds from the local area.

Alan